Chapter 39: Coping

Xion's body grew numb as her armor vanished, the magic that had formed it flying up into the air as ribbons of light. She panted heavily as her legs gave out beneath her and she fell to the ground, barely registering the color of the strands of hair hanging in front of her eyes; black, not brown as it was earlier. She glanced up to the only other person in the plaza and brought her hands up to her head, letting out a desperate, broken scream before rapidly shaking her head back and forth. Her mind was creaming, crying, begging as salty tears began to streak down her face and splash against the orange pavement.

Before her lay the body of her best friend—maybe more. His breathing was shallow to the point of being almost nonexistent. His black leather cloak was in tatters, some shreds scattered around them but most of them vaporized by the light and heat from their battle. Scars and burns coated his exposed skin, and black and white wisps were already beginning to rise from the wounds. Struggling to her feet, Xion forced herself to limp over to the blond boy only to collapse onto her knees once more beside him.

"Roxas!" Xion cried, her voice breaking. His face hardened for a moment before his eyes flickered open, and he tilted his head back to look at her, squinting in the light of sunset. "I'm sorry, this wasn't what I intended…" Xion shut her eyes and hugged herself as she began to cry again. "Why didn't you fight back?!"

"Fight back? How…could I fight against you, Xion?" Roxas's eyes barely seemed able to focus on her, and they flickered to the wisps escaping his body. He looked ready to fall back into unconsciousness or worse at a moment's notice.

"You were supposed to stop me! I was supposed to join with you… This wasn't what I…" Xion stopped as he raised a hand to her cheek. His glove had been burned off, and his bare fingers brushed her skin. She froze up and stared at him in complete silence.

"You are my best friend, Xion… I could never…kill you…" Roxas's hand fell and Xion caught it. Her gloved fingers shook as she wrapped them tight around his own, and she almost wished she had lost her glove in that battle as well, so she could feel his skin on hers. "I don't care…what they all say. You're more than just a puppet…to me…"

As Roxas's voice trailed off, Xion blinked away tears that began to flow stronger. His body was growing translucent, the wisps of black and white were rising off of him faster. The air around him was beginning to ripple and distort. She had seen this before, when the lesser Nobodies fell. She couldn't— Not now—

Xion held his hand tightly, crying too much to speak. How had her plan gone so wrong? Roxas should have absorbed her, and now he was fading; now without him Sora wouldn't wake up, now…

"Roxas!" He didn't respond, and his image was almost gone. His hand slipped from her fingers. "Roxas, please!" Silently begging, Xion attempted to grab his shoulders and shake him awake, but her hands passed right through his translucent form. "No… Not again, I can't… Kairi…"

The earth beneath Xion shattered, sending brick and stone flying. Xion barely registered what happened before she fell into utter blackness. As she tumbled through eternity, never approaching the bottom, piercing red eyes surrounded her, accompanied by an emblem resembling a thorny heart. Her eyes wide with panic, Xion reached out into the darkness and grabbed the first thing she met even if she couldn't see it.

"Kairi!"

Xion's fingers slipped from Kairi's as the red eyes and heart emblems on the walls came to life, the endless black around them turning into a deep blue. Hundreds, thousands, of Floods leaped at them in an endless swarm, the veritable army of Unversed forming into a giant hand that took Kairi in and pulled back, returning to the dark wall it had been before. And Xion continued to fall.

Far below her, a large Heartless symbol appeared in the darkness of the unknown. It rushed up meet her, pulling the bottom of the black pit up with it. Xion braced herself for impact, helpless to do anything.

Sora crashed painfully into the center of the Heartless emblem, his neck snapping back and his body screaming from the impact. He pushed himself weakly back onto his shaking legs and looked around, the Unversed eyes gone as he was once again surrounded in utter blackness.

"Kairi! Kairi!" Sora called out, but got no response except for his echoing voice. Clutching the star-shaped charm in his hand tighter, he broke into a sprint across the endless black field. No matter how far he ran, how much he exhausted himself, he never seemed to get any further. The emblem beneath him was never left behind, and every step left him in the same position

"KAIRI!"

"Sora, help!" Kairi's voice was faint, but definitely there. Sora shot his head upwards, staring into the starless sky and searching for some sign. Nothing. "Sora, please!" Left! Sora whipped his head around and ran down Destiny Island's beach, the black waters churning as the massive orb of darkness tore the island apart.

"She has to be…!" He sprinted toward the white door that blocked off the Secret Place, but as his legs pushed him forward he moved eternally backward. The door grew more and more distant, the island smaller, until Sora found himself out in the middle of the endless ocean with the waves crashing against his raft.

Sora pulled on a rope, wrapping it around his wrist as he planted his feet firmly onto the shaking wood and held on for dear life. He didn't dare open his mouth lest he risk drowning, but he continued to call out silently as the waves crashed into him. A particularly massive one sent him overboard, the rope rapidly flying off his wrist and out of his hands and burning his skin. He tumbled through the water, gasping for breath and falling away from the surface. Pushing himself upward as best he could as the seas rocked him back and forth, Sora climbed to the surface so far away.

Xion broke out of the water and climbed onto the blue stone, the Rising Falls sending mist into the air and clouding Hollow Bastion from view. She coughed out sea water and blood as she stood on her hands and knees, her whole body shaking and convulsing in pain. But she didn't hear any of it; not even the roar of the falls was audible.

Someone else was there. Xion looked up to find a man dressed in black facing away from her, his long silver hair blowing softly in the breeze. He sensed her presence as well and began to turn. Ansem smirked at her as he stood before the Final Keyhole, Xemnas's glare with the heart-shaped moon behind him made her stumble back. Suddenly, golden eyes were centimeters from her own sapphire orbs. She fell backwards, her field of view growing to reveal an ancient, withered man, and in an instant he flashed back to where he had stood before. A massive wave rose out of the water as he stretched his hand out toward Xion, sending both of them back into the inky depths.

Find her…

Kairi…

Save him…

Roxas…

You failed to protect them.

Unworthy…

You left them behind.

You are powerless to help them.

Terra!

Just…put an end to me.

x-x-x

Xion bolted awake with a horrified scream, then squeezed her eyes shut and hugged herself tightly. The nightmares… She hadn't had nightmares like that in a long, long time. Not since the Organization. Her body shook as she cried silently, shaking her head and wishing the images and feelings away. It was just a dream…just a dream… The darkness wasn't real…

She felt arms wrap around her. Slowly opening her eyes, Xion found herself embraced, rather surprisingly, by a familiar redhead. "Axel…"

"It's alright, Xion." Lea pulled away and then ruffled her hair, smiling gently if not awkwardly. This was abnormal for him, but she appreciated it. "I don't know what you saw, but it's okay now."

"Where…?" Xion pulled away from her friend's face with hesitation, concerned that at any moment he could disappear again. But he tilted to the side at her question, giving the full view of the room they were in to her: the green room in Traverse Town's hotel. Xion lay in the bed, with Lea leaning his arms over the back of a chair next to it. Leon leaned against the wall, Yuffie beside him, while Riku and King Mickey sat at a table. Sora was in the corner, on the floor with his back against the wall, staring at Kairi's charm in his hands. Donald and Goofy on either side of him glanced at each other with concern.

"You fell asleep on Cid's ship, so I carried you in," Lea explained in a soft voice; not quite a whisper, but not his usual volume either. Xion blushed slightly and looked aside, recalling the conversation about father figures they had had in Agrabah. "Stitch went home, and Aerith and Tifa are in the next room taking care of Cloud. He's in bad shape."

"And Cid?"

"His old shop," Cissnei said, coming into the room with a tray of coffee mugs. "Scrooge and his nephews are in the First District, too, and Merlin went off somewhere in the Third." She set the cups on the table and Riku muttered a barely audible thanks. Nobody moved to take one.

Xion said nothing in reply, staring at Sora instead. This was beyond out of character for him; even at his darkest, Sora had always been able to at least put up the façade of a happy face. Perhaps it was because of the Unversed multiplying his depression, like how Vanitas had purposefully increased her fear? A frown tugged at her lips; she had been him for parts of her dream, just as Roxas had become Kairi. Somehow his emotions about all of this were affecting her as well. That would put two Keybearers out of commission. That wouldn't do.

Besides, Sora was her friend. One of her best friends. She had to help him, somehow…

"Axel." Leon's voice was hard as he spoke. Most of those in the room turned to him; except the man he addressed, that is. The redhead tilted his head back and closed his eyes, pursing his lips. Leon let out an agitated sigh. "Lea."

"What's up?" Lea responded as if he hadn't heard Leon a moment ago.

"How are you here?"

Lea looked up at the ceiling, leaning back on the chair and lifting two of its legs off the ground. Everyone, even Sora, glanced at him with interest. "I'm sure you guys know already, since you knew about Xehanort coming back. Come on, Squall, put two and two together."

Xion shook her head. "I don't care how. I'm just glad to have you back, Axel." Lea dropped the chair back onto its for legs and opened his mouth to speak, but Xion didn't give him a chance. Sliding out of the sheets, she quickly wrapped her arms around Lea's neck and buried her face in his shoulder. "I'm never letting you go again…"

"H-Hey, Xion. I'm glad to see you too and all, but…people are staring." Lea pulled back, but Xion tightened her hug. He relented and sighed, rubbing the top of her head again. "Alright then. But hey, for the last time my name—"

"Lea. I know." Xion pulled away and pushed some loose strands of hair behind her ear. "Sorry, Axel. I'll get it memorized."

"…Heh. Well take your time."

After that the room grew silent, everyone alone with their thoughts. Xion glanced up at the clock. Two fifty five in the morning. Was she the only one who had gotten sleep? Besides Cloud, anyway. It hadn't even been a restful sleep. At least now she knew why Cissnei had brought in all that coffee.

The awkward silence continued, the only sounds the shifting of weight from foot to foot for those standing up, and the occasional choke from Sora. Then, something called Xion's attention over to the table where Riku and the King sat. Riku picked up one of the mugs of coffee that Cissnei had brought in but didn't drink it, staring at the steaming liquid instead.

When he finally spoke, it was as a question. "So… That was Terra?"

"You've met him before?" Yuffie asked.

"Yeah… Just once. When I was really little, a man came to the islands. Sora saw him too, but he never did have the best memory." Riku's fingers tightened around the handle of the mug, and Mickey looked at him nervously but with his curiosity piqued. "He told me he was from another world. I guess he's what got me looking for worlds besides the islands. And when I met Ansem… Heh." He shook his head and looked down at his feet. "I always did feel like I had met Ansem before, but who could have guessed he had gotten to someone before the same way he had with me?"

Mickey sighed. "I can't believe I was so blind. Of course I was suspicious when another man named Xehanort showed up looking for Kingdom Hearts, who wouldn't be? But he was so much younger, and I thought Master Xehanort was gone. And of course I considered it, but I really just played with the idea. I never really, truly thought that it was him."

"But didn't you meet the apprentice Xehanort before?" Cissnei asked. She stood against the wall with her arms behind her back. "Wouldn't you have recognized him?"

But Mickey shook his head sadly, his ears and tail drooping. "I call him a friend, but the truth is I never actually met Terra before, so I don't actually know what he looked like." He tightened his hands into fists, then relaxed them and stared at his palms. "But Master Yen Sid described him to me before, so I should've connected the dots… It was right there in front of me all this time and I never saw it."

Leon stood up straight and ran a hand through his hair. "Besides this Terra guy, there's another thing that I'm concerned about." He looked around the room, lingering on Xion for a moment, before speaking again. "This chamber that you said Braig talked about—the Chamber of Waking. He said Xehanort has a 'friend' there?" Lea looked up with interest when Leon named the chamber, but said nothing.

"That's right," Donald said, turning away from Sora for a moment. "And he said 'another friend.' So with Aqua's armor we found in the Chamber of Repose under Hollow Bastion, that must mean—"

"Then it means we need to find this friend of his." Leon cut Donald off as he spoke. "Find him and get rid of him. We can't let Xehanort get more of allies."

"No way!" Mickey shouted, jumping to his feet on the chair and slamming his hands down on the table. The coffee mugs rattled. "That friend is Ven! He's lost somewhere in Castle Oblivion, and we gotta save him! We gotta get him his heart back!"

Xion felt eyes turn to her and was about to speak up, but another person spoke first. "Hold on, everyone stop talking." Lea was surprisingly stoic at the moment, his usual humor absent. "Ven as in Ventus? As in that blond kid who looked like Roxas?"

"You knew him?" Xion asked, dumbfounded. How in all the worlds did those two meet? What were the odds? And then to befriend Roxas who held Ven's heart years later?

Lea rubbed the back of his neck. "I met him a long time ago. We were…friends, I guess. Only knew each other for a short time, though." He frowned. "What's this about getting him his heart back? Is he a Nobody?"

"We'll fill you in later," Xion said softly, averting her eyes. He'd have to know eventually, but she didn't want to tell him right now. She didn't want to make him worry about her. She was already beginning to have concerns about just what returning Ven's heart would mean for her.

"So we have to find Ven, then. And we know where to look," Riku said. "So if we go to Castle Oblivion—"

"Don't bother," Lea interrupted with a wave of his hand. "The Organization was there to find the chamber and had me scouting it, but I never could find it. Whoever created Castle Oblivion made it impossible to search every room. You get lost if you try, forever if you can't teleport out."

"Sounds like the castle has a fitting name," Leon commented dryly.

Riku groaned and leaned back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling. "Well, someone has to be able to navigate it. Someone has to know where the Chamber of Waking is. He's asleep, it's not like he just brought himself there."

"Gawrsh, what about Master Aqua?" Goofy chimed in. "When the King brought her and Ven back from that battle all them years ago, she went off with him somewhere."

Mickey drummed his fingers on the table. "Aqua was the person to see him last. If anyone knows how to find Ven, it's gotta be her."

"Okay, but where do we begin to search for her?" Xion asked. "At least with Ven we know what world he's on, but Aqua's a complete mystery."

"Not necessarily. Remember what Vanitas said?" Mickey raised a finger up as he spoke. "He mentioned a Keyblade wielder 'alone in the dark.' And way back when I was in the Realm of Darkness, I felt a familiar light moving me onward. I bet that's where we can find Aqua!"

"That's kind of a stretch though, isn't it?" Yuffie asked.

The King frowned. "Maybe, but it's the best chance we got of findin' her."

Riku nodded. "I'm willing to try, then."

Xion smiled softly. "Me too, if Sora is."

Goofy laughed. "He will be once he's his old self again! Won't you, Sora?"

"I guess so…" the brunet responded softly.

Xion's eyes fell on Sora again, silent Sora, and a pang of hurt squeezed her heat. His eyes were red, his cheeks flushed. Damn it. Damn Xehanort, and Braig, and Vanitas. Xion had lost the Samurai, but he had lost Kairi. But they could get her back! He'd done it before! She had to snap him out of it, whether it was an Unversed-influenced depression or not.

She slid herself off the bed and stood up. He glanced at her when he felt her watching him. "Sora—"

There was a knock at the door. Mickey turned to face it. "That must be the medical help I asked for from the Moogle downstairs."

The door slowly swung open from the outside, revealing a…marshmallow creature, or maybe a fat balloon man. It was white and completely round, taking up most of the doorway. Its stumpy legs and arms stood still as it turned its circular head, looking at everyone in the room with the only features it had: two round black eyes connected by a thin line.

The balloon thing stepped forward, only to get caught in the doorframe and let out a soft squeak. As Xion and everyone else stared at it in shocked silence, the thing blinked and looked down at its stubby legs. It backed up, still looking at the ground, and turned to the side. Then, keeping its eyes ever focused on its feet, it began to slowly sidestep through the doorway. Its large gut and back scraped against the frames of the door and it had to struggle a bit, but eventually it made it through, its rubbery skin bouncing slightly. It turned around again to face them, its legs squeaking with every motion.

It stared at them for a long moment, and they stared back at it. Was this the medical aid that the King had called for? Even Mickey seemed absolutely baffled. What if it was something Xehanort or Maleficent had sent to attack them? But it didn't seem like a threat. Xion opened her mouth to speak, to question it, but the white thing raised its hand and began to speak.

"Hello." Its voice was artificial. A robot? It had a masculine quality to it, though. "I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion."

"Baymax?" Leon echoed, raising an eyebrow. The robot tilted his head and blinked at him before turning the rest of his body to face him. His chest lit up and a screen appeared, ten faces with varying degrees of upset expressions appearing.

"On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?" Baymax asked Leon.

"Um…"

But the bot was persistent. "On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?" he repeated.

Yuffie chuckled. "I think it wants you to answer, Squall."

"Well I'm not going to." Leon crossed his arms and glared at the robot. It simply blinked in response, and when they opened again there was a soft glow.

"I will scan you for injuries."

"Whoa, whoa, Baymax! Wait for scans until we know who needs the help."

"Oh, Tadashi." The robot turned from Leon to a young man, a few years older than Xion and Sora, who entered the room. Nothing about him really stood out except for the hat he wore with the logo of some university, but he gave off a rather calm, likable feeling.

"Sorry about him." The young man—Tadashi, as Baymax had called him—bowed slightly. "I'm Tadashi Hamada, and you've met Baymax."

"You're the doctor the Moogle sent up?" Lea asked, somewhat disbelieving.

"Me?" Tadashi laughed and shook his head. "No, not me; Baymax is. I just invented him. I want to help people, so I made a healthcare robot."

Goofy smiled. "Gawrsh, a doctor robot? That sure would make a lot of folks happy!"

Tadashi sheepishly rubbed his neck, blushing slightly. "I guess so, yeah. But…you guys! Fighting Heartless, saving all our worlds? The whole town is talking about you! You guys are like…superheroes."

"I don't know about that…" Sora replied faintly as he leaned his head back against the wall and shut his eyes.

That comment caught Baymax's attention. The big white robot waddled over to the far wall and stared down at Sora, who looked up at Baymax in turn.

"What are you…?"

"I will scan you for injuries." Baymax's eyes began to glow.

"H-Hey!" Sora said, jumping up and backing away from the light that flew out of Baymax's eyes. It passed over him harmlessly, however, and a moment later the light faded.

"Scan complete. You have sustained no injuries. However, your hormone and neurotransmitter levels indicate that you are experiencing mood swings, particularly toward sadness. Diagnosis: Depression." Baymax looked down at his own chest and the screen displaying different faces appeared again. "On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?"

"Uh… I don't know?" Sora replied with a shrug. He didn't seem to want to be a part of this conversation, but at the same time Xion could see pieces of his personality breaking through the funk Kairi had left him in. She hid a smile; he thought Baymax was cool. She did too, honestly.

Sora rubbed his eyes and looked back down at the charm. Baymax tilted his head and looked at the ground, seeing the tear stains at Sora's feet. He looked up again. "It's alright to cry. Crying is a natural response to pain."

"Thanks, but I'm not hurt."

"But your heart hurts, does it not?" Sora grew silent and looked up at Baymax again as the robot continued. "The first step to curing sadness is to surround yourself with friends and those who care about you. Allow them to help you while you cope with your loss."

Sora chuckled awkwardly and rubbed his arm while beside him Donald took his hand and Goofy rested a hand on his shoulder.

Seeing this, Baymax spoke once more after a moment of though. "You have already made your first steps to recovery. Allow me to do my part. Would you like a hug?"

"Huh?" The trio all turned to Baymax, who was already reaching for Sora. "H-Hey, what are you—?"

The balloon bot picked Sora up in his soft, round arms and patted him on the head, squishing down his brown spikes. "You will be alright. There, there."

Xion had to hide her laughter, but she saw Sora crack a smile and her worries washed away. At least for the time being, things were on their way to recovering. She knew it wouldn't be a day one fix, though. She knew from experience with Roxas. But Sora had something she didn't: Kairi wasn't gone for good. They'd get her back, and they'd patch this up. She knew that they would.

Back in the doorway, Tadashi smiled. "Okay, Baymax. I think that for now they are satisfied with their care."

"Understood." Baymax set Sora back down, and Donald and Goofy embraced him almost immediately after. The robot bowed somewhat awkwardly. "Please enjoy your stay in Traverse Town, and look forward to your next checkup."

Sora smiled. "I will. Thank you, Baymax."

x-x-x

Some time later, Xion found herself wandering the streets of Traverse Town after going out for some air. Lea and Sora had followed her, as well, and she appreciated it. She wasn't sure she wanted to be alone, and Sora also needed to get away from his thoughts for a bit. For Lea's part, this was his first time here and he wanted to take in the sights.

As they moved through the neon-lit streets, avoiding the occasional playing children or marching toy army men, the trio was almost run over by a rushing figure. Xion backpedalled to avoid him, catching sight of his retreating figure. He was a boy about her age, dressed in brown, with a heavy bag over his shoulder. Where was he off to in such a hurry?

"Wait! Jim! Wait for me!" A dog-man, though he didn't resemble Goofy, ran past them and chased after the boy.

"Come on, doc, hurry up!" the boy called back as he slid to a stop. "Where's the ship?

"At the dock hangar in the First District. The Gummi ship I charted for us is called the RLS Legacy…"

Sora raised an eyebrow. "Wonder where they're headed? They sure seemed excited."

Lea smiled and crossed his arms. "I think I'm learning that there's all types here in this place."

Traverse town definitely seemed a lot more crowded lately, even for early morning; the implications of which certainly didn't help improve their moods. Still, crowds brought life to the quiet town, and Xion found herself enjoying interacting with all the colorful characters despite the bad things that their being there meant. There was always a silver lining.

Lea had, for example, gone up to speak with what appeared to be a talking orangutan once they had entered the First District. After a minute or so of conversation between then, which Xion and Sora couldn't hear over the bustle of the crowds, Lea held out his hand and conjured a ball of flame. The orangutan responded with joy, slamming his hands on the ground repeatedly as he hooted and hollered. When Lea asked him some question, he happily obliged with whatever it was and pointed down a street.

"Thanks," Lea said with a wave as he turned away. Stopping a moment before he returned to Xion and Sora, a thoughtful look crossed his face and he entered a small shop. Paying for a candle, he lit it and then turned back to the orangutan. "Here you go, man. I appreciate it."

"What was all that?" Sora asked when Lea returned to them.

Lea shrugged. "You gotta make an impression, kids. I've always wanted people to remember me." He tapped the side of his head with a telling grin on his face. "Come on. I asked the monkey about a place to eat and he told me about a great nightclub on the corner of Main Street."

"Would a nightclub even let me and Sora in?" Xion asked as they weaved through the crowds. "We're minors."

"This one might. The monkey didn't seem to really know what it was, but it sounds like they show cartoons or something there. I dunno; we can give it a shot." He stopped and glanced at Sora for a moment before continuing down the street. Xion looked between the two boys and smiled. Was Lea doing this for Sora? He barely even knew him. That was really nice.

The pitter-patter of fast footsteps caught Xion's attention next. As the crowds began to thin while they made their way down the road, a young boy was running toward them. Xion frowned slightly; he looked familiar, but she couldn't tell where she had seen him before. The others didn't seem to notice him, though, and before she could call out to her friends the boy had collided with Sora and knocked him over.

"Golly, it's really you! I can't believe it!" The boy grabbed Sora's hand and shook it up and down, a huge smile on his face. Who was this kid? If he knew Sora, then Xion should know him, heck, Sora should know him, and he looked just as confused as her and Lea. The kid wore red overalls and a yellow hat, and she felt like she knew his face from…somewhere. …No, that couldn't be right.

"Pinoke?!" Jiminy Cricket popped out of Sora's hood and hopped onto his shoulder. "Pinocchio! Is that you?!"

"Jiminy!" The boy looked up at the little cricket with wide, sparkling eyes. "Jiminy, it's been such a long time!"

Sora climbed up to his feet and helped lower Jiminy to the ground. As he dusted his clothes off he looked over the little boy and raised an eyebrow. Then he knelt down with his hands on his knees so that he was eye level with Pinocchio. "You look kinda different, Pinoke."

"Huh?" Pinocchio looked down at himself, then his mouth formed into a 'o' as he realized what Sora meant. Xion took a moment to register it herself. "Yeah, I'm a real boy now!"

Jiminy wiped at his eyes. "That's great, Pinocchio! I'm so proud of you!"

Back beside Xion, Lea raised an eyebrow. "Who's the kid?" he asked her.

"Pinocchio. Sora met him on his first journey," she explained as she dug through his memories of Monstro. "He was a wooden puppet brought to life, he had a heart and everything."

Lea let out a low whistle. "A puppet with a heart, huh?" He eyed Xion.

Xion felt her face heat up and looked away, finding the shops lining the street unusually interesting as she avoided Lea's grin. "I…I guess so."

"Who are you two?" She felt a tug on her hand and looked down to see Pinocchio staring at her and Lea. Xion smiled and squatted down to look him on an even level, as Sora had.

"I'm Xion, and this is Axe—sorry, Lea. We're Sora's friends."

"Gosh! Sora, you make friends all over!"

"Heh, I guess…" Sora said with awkward laughter.

"Come on! I've got to go take you to see Father. He'll be so excited to see you again, Sora! You too, Jiminy!"

"Geppetto is here too?" Jiminy asked, excited. But his excitement gave way, replaced with a frown. "Now…wait a minute. Pinocchio, what are you doing in Traverse Town? Shouldn't your world have come back a long time ago?"

The mood grew somber in an instant, and Xion brought a concerned hand to her face as her brow wrinkled in thought. That was right, it should have. Sora had enabled Kingdom Hearts to restore the first group of destroyed worlds when he closed the Door to Darkness. So…how were Pinocchio and Geppetto here in Traverse Town? What was going on?

"…I should let Father explain," Pinocchio said after a moment. "We're staying at our old home that Mister Leon gave us before."

x-x-x

Geppetto's house was small and busy, filled with much of his woodwork just as Xion remembered through Sora. After Pinocchio brought the three of them in, Geppetto had first admonished him for going out so early in the morning; though silently Xion didn't think it much of a problem, since Traverse Town was eternally night regardless. It was only after Jiminy had joined in on telling Pinocchio the dangers of wandering off in a big city that the old toymaker had realized he had visitors.

Now, Pinocchio slept soundly in a back room while Geppetto invited Lea, Sora, and Xion to sit at his table. The slow tick-tock of a handmade clock served as background noise as Geppetto spoke.

"It was only a few weeks ago that we arrived here," he explained in a low, wavering voice. "The Heartless arrived on our world all over again, and this time they were fighting strange white creatures. All of us in town were caught up in the middle of the battle."

Xion glanced to Lea, who didn't seem surprised at the news that the Heartless and Nobodies had been fighting. He must have been filled in while she was asleep earlier.

"Then, one morning there was a terrible storm coming from the direction of Pleasure Island out in the sea." Geppetto shook his head. "I had seen that exact storm coming from that exact place last time our world was swallowed, just before Monstro got a hold of me."

"The Heartless found our world's Keyhole," Jiminy said softly.

"That has to be it. I blacked out alongside little Pinocchio, and when we came to we were here in Traverse Town. Luckily we were able to move back into here, I don't know what we would have done without a house ready and waiting for us."

"That doesn't make any sense…" Sora shook his head and stared down at his hands. "When all the worlds came back, their Keyholes should have locked up automatically because of Kingdom Hearts. Right? So how did the Heartless get inside a second time?"

Lea shrugged. "There's no way to know right now. We'll figure it out eventually, I'm sure."

"I guess…"

Xion's frown hadn't let up since their conversation with Pinocchio out in the street. All this talk of worlds falling to darkness was bringing unpleasant memories back to the surface, memories of a cackling witch, turbulent waters, and a little blue alien clinging desperately to her as he begged her not to let him drown.

Lilo and Stitch didn't live very far from here. Xion had to go check in on them. Nani, too. She had to see how they'd been handling things lately, it had been too long.

Xion hadn't realized she had stood up until she saw everyone staring at her. Feeling her cheeks heat up in embarrassment, she quickly nodded at Geppetto at muttered a thank you for letting her visit.

"You're leaving already? You only just got here," the kind old man said.

"I really do appreciate it, but I need to check up on some friends."

"Do you want us to come with you?" Sora asked. Lea was already beginning to stand up.

Xion shrugged and then shook her head. "You catch up with Geppetto, Sora." Then she smiled softly. "Though Lea, if you want to come then you're welcome to." She could tell he was feeling uncomfortable, since Xion was the only person here he really knew.

Lea smiled as he stood up, and he put a hand on Xion's shoulder while he walked toward the door. "Alright, why not? Let's see who you've met while I've been gone."

"Thanks again for having us, Mister Geppetto."

Geppetto smiled. "You come back any time, alright? You're always welcome here, and I'm sure Pinocchio would agree."

"It's a promise."